Eric Limer - 

Today is texting’s 20th birthday, and as part of the celebration, we’ve rounded up a little museum of texting slang. You may know some of it very well, you may not recognise some of it at all. You may even find the existence of some of it to be quite dubious.

Whatever your stance on abbreviated words, it’s clear that in 20 years texting has become something of a language in its own right. Enjoy it now, while you can, before the inevitable emoji revolution washes them all away.

 

Letters as Words

u: You
r: Are/Our
2: To/Too
c: See
b: Be

 

The Classics

LOL: Laughing Out Loud
BFF: Best Friends Forever
IDK: I Don’t Know
JK: Just Kidding
OMW: On My Way
BRT: Be Right There
BRB: Be Right Back
GTG: Got To Go
OIC: Oh, I See
ATM: At The Moment
TTYL: Talk To You Later
BTW: By The Way
FYI: For Your Information/Interest
OMG: Oh My God
WTF: What The Fuck
LMAO: Laughing My Ass Off
TXT: Text [message]

 

Number Slang

143: I Love You
458: I Love U (keys for ILU)
459: I Love You (keys for ILY)
831: I Love You/I Hate You (8 letters, 3 words, 1 meaning, apparently)
182: I Hate You
5150: Crazy

 

Absurdly Long and Specific Slang

BTWITIAILWU: By The Way I Think I Am In Love With U
CNRHKYITF: Chuck Norris RoundHouse Kicks You In The Face
BASOR: Breathing A Sigh Of Relief
DLTBBB: Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite
IJC2SILU: I Just Called 2 Say I Love U

Sexting Slang

GYPO: Get Your Pants Off
IAYM: I Am Your Master
IWSN: I Want Sex Now
K4Y: Kiss For You
LMIRL: Let’s Meet In Real Life
MOOS: Member Of The Opposite Sex
MOSS: Member(s) Of The Same Sex
NALOPKT: Not A Lot Of People Know That
S2R: Send To Receive
TDTM: Talk Dirty To Me
WIN: Want It Now

That’s far from an exhaustive list, of course. Did we miss any big ones? Any stupid ones? Drop ‘em in the discussion below.

Image by Andresr/Shutterstock